The Right Choice
by roxyxkarkat
Summary: If this was the right choice, then why did it hurt so much?


The cell you're in is cold and damp, but you know that soon enough you're going to be dragged to someplace much more unpleasant than this. You shiver and wrap your arms around yourself. _Just a little longer,_ you think to yourself. _The others will come and rescue me soon._ You hear a noise and jump, expecting to see Shadow come in to tell you what method of execution he's picked for you, but it's only a rat.

 _Shadow._ Goddesses just _thinking_ the name makes your pulse speed up and your stomach clench. Your chest hurts too, but you can't figure out why. _This is the right path, we have to save Hyrule._ But you can't help but wonder: if you have chosen the right path, why does it _hurt_ so much?

 _Shadow._ The name is ringing in your head now, tearing apart at you from the inside. You feel a sob escape your throat as you curl into a ball. _Shadow, Shadow, Shadow._

" _I'm serious Vio. For the first time I feel like I have a_ **real** _friend. Someone I can_ **trust** _."_

You choke out another sob as you hug yourself tighter, you feel like you're on the brink of shattering into a million pieces. "It's the right choice," you say. "My friends, my—my _brothers!_ I can't leave them, I-I can't!"

 _Shadow smelled like a combination of Devil's Lantern and the air after a long storm. His breath was warm and it sent shivers down Vio's spine._

"Stop it," you say to no one in particular. "He's evil, he kills people!"

 _Shadow's lips brushed against Vio's neck, a small sigh escaped him as he melted into the other boy's form. Shadow's hands were tangled in his hair as he kissed every inch of Vio's pale neck._

"It didn't mean anything," you whisper. "I needed him to trust me."

 _A moan escaped Vio as Shadow's hands traveled over his chest. He pulled Vio's shirt off and pressed his lips to his chest, Vio couldn't help but moan again because everywhere Shadow touched him felt like it was on fire._

"No. No, it wasn't like that."

 _Shadow looked down at him, his deep ruby eyes glowing in the moonlight. He leaned forward and Vio opened his mouth to him, letting him explore every inch with his tongue. Vio curled his fingers in Shadow's hair and wrapped his legs around him._

"Please, please stop."

 _Nothing would ever be close enough, and soon they had ripped the rest of their clothes off. Vio's whole body burned as Shadow explored every nook and crevice of his entire being._

"He had to trust me, th-that's all!"

 _It came in waves, and at the height of it all Vio screamed Shadow's name to the sky, and Shadow clung to him and whispered his name so that only Vio and Vio alone could hear it._

" _I love you," he whispered._

"No," you moan. "It wasn't—I never—I hate him."

" _I love you too."_

"I HATE HIM!" you scream, and the sound of your hate echoes off the walls. It feels as if the room is screaming at you.

 _Hate him, hate him, hate, hate, he hates you now. Traitor, liar, coward!_

You cover your ears in an attempt to block it all out, the memories, the sounds, his name. Oh Thrice, his _name!_ _Shadow, Shadow, my precious Shadow._

" _Don't ever leave me Vio."_

A scream tears through you and your body shakes as you sob uncontrollably.

"I'm sorry," you find yourself saying. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Your heart's breaking even though it shouldn't be, you shouldn't be feeling this, and you wish the world would swallow you whole just so that you could stop _feeling!_

 _Vio had carefully pried Shadow's arms from him as the boy slept and dressed silently. He crept out of the room and snuck down to the forge where he found a well-sized hammer._

"It was the right decision, wasn't it? I-I had to!"

 _He had been prepared to do it, destroy the Dark Mirror, end it all before it got worse. With the mirror gone Vaati and Shadow would die._

 _Shadow._

 _Shadow would die._

"I couldn't…I should have…why didn't I do it?!" Your throat hurts from sobbing and your face is streaked with tears.

 _When Shadow saw the image of Vio trying to destroy the mirror everything went cold. His whole body went numb, he couldn't think._ This can't be right, he wouldn't—he said he loves me! _And then everything went hot, his body filled with fire and his vision went red. He could feel himself shaking from rage as he screamed. "EXECUTE THIS TRAITOR!"_

"Shadow," you moan, much like you had done earlier, but now your voice is filled with sorrow. "Oh Thrice Shadow I'm sorry." You know Shadow will return soon, and that you should compose yourself for when he arrives, but your heart hurts so bad and you can't stop crying so all you can do is lie there and hope he takes a bit longer as he plans how to kill you.

Kill you.

He's going to kill you.

Because you couldn't kill him.

"Why couldn't I do it?" you whisper. You ask because you hope there is another answer, one less terrifying than the real answer, the one you know is true.

You love him.

You love him so much it hurts and you wish you could die it hurts so much.

"What should I have done?" you ask the empty room, but it has no answers for you. "This was the right choice." And you know you are right, it was the right choice for everyone else.

But it wasn't the right choice for you.


End file.
